Decision makers

Waffle House: Ensure every employee makes minimum wage

Until a few months ago, I worked at Waffle House as a server/salesperson. After a year of working at this popular chain, I was tired of continuously not always receiving minimum wage. We are assumed by Waffle House to make minimum wage between the under $4 dollars an hour we are paid and tips included. I think it’s wrong for a company the size of Waffle House not to pay employees fairly and I hope you’ll join me in calling on them to do better.

As you can imagine, the restaurant is most crowded and makes the most money during the morning breakfast shift. I worked after the breakfast shift and would only work with one or two other employees to keep the restaurant running. That meant that I not only had to wait tables but I also had to cook, clean, be the cashier, dishwasher and serve as a manager on duty by having to always work with employees I was training.

Even though I was doing so many jobs, I was still barely making enough money in tips to cover gas to get to work. For many shifts, I didn’t even make minimum wage. During shifts later in the day, there just weren’t enough customers to produce enough tips to make it to the bare minimum wage. One of the worst parts is that the company puts the blame on employees if they don’t make enough in tips to meet minimum wage. Waffle House prides themselves on being a “billion dollar, debt-free company.”

Eventually, I asked for more morning shifts and a raise so that I could make enough to live on. When I worked at Waffle House, they would often have me work at other locations. I worked in three different Waffle House restaurants in my area and saw the same problems at all of them. I’ve worked for years at a number of different national restaurant chains and I can confidently say that Waffle House was the most unfair.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. I believe that Waffle House can do the right thing and pay all of its hard working employees minimum wage. Will you join me and sign my petition?